Kukla's Korner Hockey

Right wing Patrick Kane, tied for second in the league through Wednesday with 20 points, said of his success, “Sometimes the puck finds you.”

Or as the captain Jonathan Toews put it, “I don’t know if there’s a method to the madness.”

What is clear is that Chicago, which plays the San Jose Sharks on Friday in only its fourth home game of the season, is the N.H.L.’s best team right now.

Entering Thursday’s games, the Blackhawks were second in the league in scoring (3.31 goals per game), fourth in goals-against average (1.92), and first in goal differential (1.38 per game) by nearly half a goal.

Kane, 24, is leading the charge. He spent the lockout playing in Europe, scoring 23 points in 20 games and living in a small city in Switzerland with his mother. “Maybe I had a little bit of a head start playing over in Switzerland,” he said, almost sheepishly.